Can only play playlists, albums not working

[fatolaf]

Plan

Premium

Country

Uk

Device

MacBook Air Early 2015

Operating System

macOS Catalina version 10.15.6

My Question or Issue

Spotify App only now plays playlists, very occasionally it will play the odd album, but only the first track, Most albums will not play at all and pressing play brings nothing up on the screen.

[mxmu]

Hi,

I have the same issue. On my Mac as well as my Android phone, I can only play songs from playlists for about 1 week now.

Prior fixes suggested to check the host files and adblockers. I did that but there was no issue. Also since I have the issue on several devices the problem seems to be somewhere else.

[mxmu]

I can also add that the webplayer does not have this issue. It loads fast (mac and android app always take forever to start up) and plays all songs without issues. That's ridiculous.

[Mihail]

Hey @fatolaf and @mxmu,

Thanks posting here in the Community! We'll gladly help you out.

Apologies for the delayed response, we just came across this thread. If you're still experiencing this issue, could you try logging out and back in to your account two times in a row? This prompts a resync with our servers. If that doesn't fix things, it's possible that some of the app files have gotten damaged. This is usually resolved by performing a clean reinstall using these steps. They are more thorough and make sure that no leftover files remain.

As a possible workaround while we investigate this further you can create playlists with the albums you want to play and start them from there.

Keep us posted. We're always one reply away.

[Stray2]

Got exactly the same problem. reinstalled a few times, logged out and in a lot, still not playing anything that isn't in a playlist.

[Vasil]

Hey @Stray2,

Thank you for letting us know!
Does the issue persists across all platforms?

We'd also like to know the devices you've tested this on, their OS versions and the versions of the installed Spotify apps 🙂
We'll be on the lookout for your response.
Thanks!

[Ternoyo]

Same issue here, tried all the troubleshooting any moderators have suggested across multiple threads. Spotify on Windows just wont play any songs i dont like or have saved to a playlist, as if theres an issue with the streaming. All other versions and platforms work fine for me.

The bug just started in the middle of spotify being open, i've reinstalled using the guide, logged in and out, checked my hosts file, etc. Super inconvenient.

Spotify for Windows
1.1.88.612.gcc529952

Windows 10 Home

Version : 21H2

[boterbloem]

Hello, 

Have the same problem here, I cannot play albums of an artist. Playing playlists is no problem at all. I tried logging out and signing in again, but it has no effect. Will try a reinstall of the desktop app. Would be the second time for issues that I never had with the desptop app a couple of years ago. 

[Yordan]

Hi folks!

Do the songs / albums appear greyed out? Do you get an error message when trying to play them? In any case a short screen recording which shows the app's behavior in action would be greatly appreciated. That way we can get a clear understanding of what's happening on your end.

Cheers!

[Ternoyo]

No errors, nothing greyed out, the song just straight up doesn't play and spotify goes empty.

In the video i provided "World Wide Night" is a song at the top of one of my playlists, and when i play it from there only then can i play it through the artist page.

[princeza]

I am having the same issue. Did the troubleshooting and it didnt work. No albums or songs will play (windows spotify app) But if i turn the album into a playlist it works! I can listen to playlists but no saved albums on my library! When I click play on an album the play and fast forwards etc panel is greyed out.

[Dian]

Hey there,

Thanks for the replies.

Could you also check how the app behaves in Safe mode on your Windows? Also run it as an administrator with the hardware acceleration turned off. How did that go?

Have you tried connecting through a different network, e.g. a hot spot from a mobile phone?

Keep us posted,

Cheers!

[boterbloem]

Hello everyone. 

So, I turned off the hardware accelerator and play as admin. Still nothing. In the meanwhile I had to update my VPN (ExpressVPN) and suddenly everything (playing an album) starts working again.  Will update this message if anything changes.     Thanks for the help everybody. 

[Ternoyo]

Hardware acceleration and admin did nothing, and spotify refuses to open in safe mode. Changing networks (to 4G/5G too) also didn't help. The problem got even worse since now i can't play songs in artist/album view even if i have them in a playlist somewhere else.

Unfortunately I don't use a VPN like some replies so that isn't the issue either.

[Dian]

Hey @Ternoyo,

Thanks for all the troubleshooting you've tried.

Have you already tried creating a new account? How does the new account behave?

Keep us posted,

Cheers!

[Ternoyo]

New account behaves the same way, i tried my account on other devices + desktop versions and it worked fine. Though I've tried to use my friends' premium accounts on this computer also, same problem.

Seems to be bound to my pc somehow, the only thing that happened around the time of the bug was me installing some drivers for my new amp/dac, although i just uninstalled them to see and still no change.

[Dian]

Hey @Ternoyo,

Thanks for the reply.

This narrows down the probable causes a lot.

How does the app on your PC behave, when you use the integrated sound card or play around with the sound output settings? Try switching the default output device and the output quality.

Let us know what you did and what did or did not work,

Cheers!

[Ternoyo]

No change still, tried restarting/reinstalling with different drivers, different default sound device, nope.

It being my sound drivers was more speculation since this only started happening around the time, not clearly when i installed new drivers.

In a moment of frustration i managed to find out some songs still play from artist pages if i spam the play button, though i've managed to get this to work like, twice, out of many songs and very inconsistently. Can't tell if it's my pc or spotify anymore, might just have to hold out for an update to shake up the files so it hopefully works again.

[OscarDC]

Hey @Ternoyo,

Thank you for keeping in contact. 

We appreciate the time you took reporting these issues and following the troubleshooting processes. As this issue seems to be device-related, we'd also recommend having your app updated to see if incoming versions make the difference. 

In the meantime, you can always keep using the Connect feature and the Web Player.

Thank you again for your patience and cooperation. If anything else comes up, don't hesitate to ask. 

[anthonytech88]

Hello! Surprisingly enough, I'm having this exact same issue. On my 3rd reinstall of the application everything finally worked. I also disabled my VPN (NordVPN) and played a song. It worked. Then I re-enabled my VPN and it seems to be working fine. I'll check back in to see if there is an update to this, or if my problem persists after restarting my computer a few times.